Book By Book: 2016 Reading Challenges

I am a little (OK, a lot!) late getting started, but here are my reading challenges for 2016:

On the top of the list, as always, a TBR challenge:

Read Your Own Damn Books hosted by Estella's Revenge
I have an entire bookcase of books waiting to be read! Last year, I managed to read 24 TBR books off my own shelves, so this year, I will aim to beat that and read at least 25 of My Own Damn Books.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
This Side Of Wild by Gary Paulsen
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide by Toni Bernhard
Blog, Inc. by Joy Deangdeelert Cho
Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Marvels by Brian Selznick
The Many Lives of John Stone by Linda Buckley-Archer
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
The Drowning by Rachel Ward
Tales of Mystery by Edgar Allen Poe
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

2016 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge hosted by Girlxoxo

I was glad to see a new challenge hosted by one of my favorite blogs! The idea is to read one book a month from each motif. This will be fun!

JANUARY- Who Dunnit?
     The Art Thief by Noah Charney
FEBRUARY- New Releases
     This Side Of Wild by Gary Paulsen
MARCH- Take a Trip
     Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Canada)
APRIL- Best of the Best
     The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (won many awards!)
MAY- Story of Survival
     Oddly, every one of the 7 books I read in May fits this motif! Here is one example: My Name Is Not Friday by Jon Walter
JUNE- Girlxoxo Recommends
      Yikes, forgot to look at this one until after June was over! But I did read The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, and Girlxoxo recommended the first in the series, The Raven Boys. That counts, right?
JULY- LOL
     Oops - I didn't read anything even remotely funny in July! All six of the books I read were on very serious topics. Fail.
AUGUST- Genre Jumble
     Not sure if this counts, but I read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and it was only the 2nd classic I'd read all year (and very few last year).
SEPTEMBER- Steampunk, Science Fiction, and Fantasy
     Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel (sci fi)
OCTOBER- Things That Go Bump in The Night
     The Drowning by Rachel Ward
NOVEMBER- Fiction Takes A Break
     When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
DEC- That’s a Wrap
Finish a series you’ve been meaning to finish or read the next book in a series you started but never finished. - Oops - Fail. I did start a new series - does that count? The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight

2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by The Introverted Reader.

I'm signing up for the Explorer level (6 - 10) & hoping to read more than the 8 nonfiction books I read last year!

This Side Of Wild by Gary Paulsen
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide by Toni Bernhard
Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx by Sonia Manzano
Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride by Lucy Knisley
Blog, Inc. by Joy Deangdeelert Cho
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Challenge link-up for reviews.

2016 Classics Challenge hosted by Pretty Books.

The classics challenge I tried last year turned out to be a bit too limiting for me (no re-reads, nothing published after 1965), but this one sounds very flexible. The challenge is to read one classic a month, which I know I can't do (it is already the end of February, after all!), but I think I will give it my best shot - I'm hoping it will motivate me to get to some of those classics I have been wanting to read but never have time for and some of the books my son is reading for school.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Tales of Mystery by Edgar Allen Poe

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge hosted by Mom's Small Victories, another of my favorite blogs. I signed up for this one back in 2014, so this is a continuation - I can't wait to see what places I visit in books in 2016!

Solitaire by Alice Oseman (UK)
The Art Thief by Noah Charney (Italy, France, UK)
A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen (Germany)
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Canada)
The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood (France)
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (Poland, Prussia)
The Lightning Queen by Laura Renau (Mexico)
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce (UK)
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canada, Japan)
Marriage on the Street Corners of Tehran by Nadia Shahram (Iran)
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi (Iran)
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (Hungary)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (FL, UK - specifically Wales)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo (India)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Congo)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (NZ, Belgium, UK, Korea)
Unbecoming by Jenny Downham (UK)
The Marvels by Brian Selznick (UK)
The Many Lives of John Stone by Linda Buckley-Archer (UK, France)
The Summer Guest by Alison Anderson (Ukraine)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (UK)
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell (Scotland)
They Are Trying to Break Your Heart by David Savill (UK, Bosnia, Thailand)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (UK)
Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton (East Indies)
The Drowning by Rachel Ward (UK)
Tales of Mystery by Edgar Allen Poe (France)
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (France)
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker (Burma)
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (UK)

Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I will try to play each month! Stop by to print out this month's Bingo card and play along!

States Where I Am Reading:

There is no official Where Are You Reading? Challenge this year, but I still want to track which states my books take place in (in addition to those with an international setting for Travel the World in Books, above). So, just for fun:

Alabama: Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves
Alaska: This Side Of Wild by Gary Paulsen
Arizona: Code of Honor by Alan Gratz
Arkansas:

California: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Colorado: Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz, Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Connecticut: The Secret Language of Sisters by Luanne Rice, Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Delaware: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
Florida: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Georgia: The River of Kings by Taylor Brown
Hawaii: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Idaho:

Illinois: Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride by Lucy Knisley
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas:

Kentucky
Louisiana:

Maine: The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight
Maryland:
Massachusetts: The Cost of All Things by Maggie Lehrman, The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podo, Dreamology by Lucy Keating, The News At the End of the World by Emily Jeanne Miller
Michigan: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Minnesota: The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Mississippi: My Name Is Not Friday by Jon Walter
Missouri:
Montana
Nebraska:

Nevada:

New Hampshire: The Big Dark by Rodman Philbrick
New Jersey:

New Mexico: Masterminds: Criminal Destiny by Gordon Korman
New York: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion, The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx by Sonia Manzano, Drag Teen by Jeffrey Self, Swing Sideways by Nanci Turner Steveson
North Carolina
North Dakota: LaRose by Louise Erdrich
Ohio:
Oklahoma:

Oregon:

Pennsylvania: The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick, Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman, Vivian Apple At the End of the World by Katie Coyle
Rhode Island: The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood
South Carolina:
South Dakota
Tennessee:

Texas: Magnificent Mya Tibbs by Crystal Allen, The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork
Utah
Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Virginia: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (VA)
Washington: Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart (WA), Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Washington, D.C.:
West Virginia
Wisconsin: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
Wyoming: